


Five Things That Didn't Happen in "Children of Earth"

by attolia



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 22:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9569021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/attolia/pseuds/attolia
Summary: What it says on the label.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm copying my (very few, very short) fics over from [Live Journal](http://attolia.livejournal.com/35096.html). This was written to deal with the trauma that was Children of Earth.

-1- 

Ianto Jones died in the Hub explosion, although he never knew it. Yes, the back of his head and his collar were drenched in blood and guts. But when he noticed, he assumed it was Jack and went on trying to rescue his boss. 

When he revived in a room full of of red-wrapped corpses, Ianto saw Jack and Gwen looking, in turns, devastated, comically shocked, and hysterically joyful. Jack told them how he had kissed Ianto to life once before and proceeded to demonstrate. 

A similar (but more appropriate) technique revived Stephen. 

But when the government threatened to draft Jack to the NHS, he and Ianto left the planet. 

 

-2- 

Ianto went back to Cardiff, to help his sister, niece, and nephew, while Jack and the others tried to find a way to fight back. They stayed in constant communication and Ianto was listening, surrounded by the estate's children, when the solution was proposed. With trepidation, Ianto asked for volunteers, knowing the children couldn't really comprehend the risk. But, with five brave kids and a pirate radio station, the signal went out. 

One of the neighbor's children lost her sight in one eye and young David was left with a ghastly tic. But he wore it as a badge of honor. 

 

-3- 

The last thing Ianto felt before died was the tingle of Jack's lips. The first thing he felt afterword was the taste of the dirt that had seeped into the coffin. It seemed to take aeons to work his way out in one minute bursts of effort between deaths, but in reality it took only twelve months. 

He went straight to the new, open and, fortunately above ground, Torchwood Hub and found out that Jack was gone. 

Another two years to find John Hart and convince him to use his barely functioning wrist strap to try to get a message to Jack. 

"Hello. I'm alive again. Surprised me too. Look, I ... I understand why you had to leave and why you might not be ready to come back. But if you do. When you do. I think ... It looks like I'll still be here." 

 

-4- 

As Stephen shattered and broke, Ianto watched Jack shatter and break with him. Then he did what he did best and started cleaning up. Jack was gone before he he had a chance to notice. 

Six months later he was begging Jack to come back. Not to go even further away. But he understood. It was part of his job to be in the line of fire. Yet he, not Stephen, had survived. 

 

-5- 

Jack started to protest when Dekker told him how they could transmit the signal, but Ianto knew what would happen. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and shot Jack in the head. 

"Get Stephen" he told Agent Johnson and had her men secure Jack to a chair. He shot Jack twice more before it was all done, because he couldn't bear to hear him. 

"He wouldn't have done it?" Johnson asked him, after. 

"Oh, he would." Ianto answered. "But this way, it's all on me." 

Jack never spoke to Ianto again. Never even looked at him. But, at least, Ianto knew he would always be remembered.


End file.
